


Marked by an Assassin

by KumoriYami



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe, Awkward Romance, Colonist (Mass Effect), Conflict of Interests, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family is important, First Contact War, Internal Conflict, Mass Effect Kink Meme, POV Multiple, Past Abuse, Shepard Siblings, Slavery, Slow Build, Slow To Update, The Author is horrible for not updating in forever on the MEKmeme, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-24 15:16:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4924621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KumoriYami/pseuds/KumoriYami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Originally posted for a MEKmeme AU prompt named: In love with the Mark</p><p>Garrus is a member of Blackwatch who purchases a human slaved named Jane upon discovering her true identity of 'Operative Shepard' - one of Cerberus's most infamous assassins despite the general consensus was that Shepard was male, and was also part of the Alliance. He's willing to do anything to protect Palaven, and intends to do all he can to expose the shadowy organization that has been pulling various strings around the galaxy which no one seems to believe exists regardless of the cost.</p><p>If Jane Shepard can complete her mission, she'll finally be free of Cerberus' leash to find her family again. She'll be able to get away from the organization that she was practically indentured to ever since they kidnapped her before turning her into a weapon against her will, but only if she obtains the information they want and she knows it won't be easy. She'll need to access to someone with connections to the turian military, or Hierarchy who she can use and probably kill though.</p><p>The problem is that the first time the two lay eyes on one other, they both find themselves not wanting to accomplish their respective missions...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on the Mass Effect Kink Meme at: http://masseffectkink.livejournal.com/8618.html?thread=42128554#t42128554
> 
> I'm hoping to start updating this again... monthly? At least. Will aim for within two weeks though. As it is I've got a full supply of Solas angst so Mass Effect unfortunately has taken a back seat for me... and I keep diverting my ME thoughts to a different story that I've had in mind.... also with shep siblings. I seem to be obsessed with having both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original prompt:  
> The human-turian war continues for years without neither side making any advantage on the other. Garrus, a secret high ranking member who mostly played in the shadow, recently purchased a human slave named Jane (please use default-Shep).
> 
> What other people didn't know is that Jane is actually the infamous human assassin named Shepard (that most people thought to be male due to the story about "his" strength which was a result from Cerberus). She was sent to seduce Garrus, take the info for the Alliance and kill him when the right time come. But unknown to her, Garrus actually knows who she is thanks to his private connections and actually planned to do the same to her.
> 
> The problem is that the first time the two lay eyes on each other, they instantly fall in love, and the more time they spend with each other, the clearer it shows that they cannot be separated. So they try to prolong their time together and protect their lover by feeding false information to both sides. All while doesn't know that their lover know what they actually are.
> 
> Just when the couple thinks they could finally be left along, it turn out that her Cerberus implants have allowed her to do the impossible, to be pregnant with a turian child. Now they have to find a way to hide it or people from both side will try to capture and experiment on Jane and her baby.
> 
> \----  
> I know I haven't updated this in a while.. but my motivation died sorta when I posted the last update and I was swamped with group projects at the time. Then tests. Then exams. (If you're a student sympathize with me lol!) Anyway then my creativity died when summer came around so I only recently just got back to writing this. SORRY!
> 
> Anyway, just in case if you aren't from the MEKmeme, I've taken a few liberties with Shepard's background because because whatever. I’m still probably going to modify a few ideas in the prompt as I go.

Omega.

It was ironic that the only pisshole in the galaxy was where you could be a human and not be shot by a turian on sight, and where you could be a turian and not be shot likewise. Omega’s de-facto leader had made it an iron rule, since she despised having bloodbaths in the open streets, and neither species wanted to aggravate the biotic bitch.

The station just also happened to be where humans could buy turian slaves and vice versa. With the First Contact War as a still on-going conflict, slaves where used often as objects of study of the opposing side to learn of weaknesses and torture techniques, and sometimes to gather information. Batarian slavers were making a killing from slaving, and they also got personal satisfaction from trampling over humans after since their people were denied support from the Council to oppress humanity when they began space colonization. Still, that didn’t stop slavers from being ruthlessly efficient in capturing their targets and making sure they were still alive after whatever they were put through.

Jane Shepard sighs as she sits in her dark and cramped cell as she shifts uncomfortably in her shackles. The chains are monitored and send data somewhere to ensure that prisoners are right where they are, and will electrocute someone into unconsciousness if tampered with. It's technology that the slavers often used destroy the belief that one can escape, not that she didn’t know what she was getting into. It’s been weeks since she’s moved her entire body, and it’s been even longer since she’s seen the light of day. She’s been beaten repeatedly and moved around, but she doesn’t give her batarian captors satisfaction at seeing her scream. The pain inflicted upon her, she always reminds herself, is nothing compared to what it will mean to her when she succeeds.

If she can complete this mission, she’ll finally be free of her master’s leash, and she’ll finally be able to reunite with her older brother. They were separated at a fairly young age after slavers attacked their home on the colony of Mindoir. The Alliance arrived to stop the attack, but it was too late for most of the colony’s inhabitants. John was taken in by the Alliance and adopted by some high-ranking Alliance Admiral, whereas Jane was taken by Cerberus and possibly believed to be dead. Her brother at least thought she was hopefully alive since she sent him a message that told she was still alive when she was taken by Cerberus, and once every time she succeeded in a mission, though she never knew if he responded or believed her. Cerberus never gave her that information.

They allowed her to hope when there was none to be had when they began training her into an assassin to unleash upon their enemies. She had nothing but the pain Cerberus inflicted onto her as they modified her body against her will to make her a weapon to point against the Hierarchy. Cerberus controlled where she was aimed, who was killed, and always reminded her who was in control, and had ultimately installed control chips in her head since she was unruly at times.

‘Operative Shepard,’ was the name that both the Hierarchy and Cerberus referred to her by. Jane was always curious if the Alliance got reports of the activities since there was the possibility of her brother finding out, but she was against finding out since she was rather infamous for killing countless turians from a wide array of ranks, as called for in her orders, and she didn’t want him to bear any backlash. It was rather intriguing to learn that the Hierarchy thought of her as a man since her modifications and implants gave her, as a woman, an edge to match her to a slightly above average, strong human male.

Jane breaks away from her reverie as she hears sees a small light being let into the holding block where she and other a large number of humans are being held. There are a lot of mumbles made, begging for freedom as the voices say they don’t know anything. It’s at times like this, Jane wishes that she was as drugged out of her mind as the rest of them. The only reason she was completely coherent and conscious was because most drugs didn’t work well against her modified immune system after a certain period of time that had long passed, though dehydration and lack of nutrients affected her like anyone else, if not harder.

She’s learned over the weeks that those gathered in this group are mostly unlucky Alliance soldiers. None of them were ranking officers, and most of them were captured on pirate and slaver raids. Some of them, like her, know that they’re to be auctioned off, in a private turian auction. Auctions like this were fairly common since it was an easy way to acquire intelligence if you picked up the right human and broke them, and why they were all drugged to be more ‘complacent,’ and was why she was here in the first place. She needed intelligence that Cerberus wanted on some secret project the Hierarchy was working on that might put the Alliance at a possibly overwhelming disadvantage and kill whoever stood in her way. It was for ‘the good of humanity’ that she succeeded, but there were some times where she just wanted it all to be over than to listen to whatever Cerberus said…

* * *

Garrus Vakarian remained silent as went through the information that he received from the Shadow Broker for the third time as his private ship docked on Omega. As usual, it required a hefty sum to have all the background checks performed on all the humans to be sold, but unlike most times, it seemed that one individual in particular stood out. As a member of the Hierarchy and of Blackwatch, he was often invited to these human-slave auctions throughout the Terminus Systems, though they were often held on Omega. He knew that the batarians specifically targeted Alliance ships so there was always a chance that someone knew more that their station since humans tended to gossip more than his species, and he always had performed background checks to see if whomever was caught was likely to be privy to some classified intel that would give his people an edge in the war. Although he found war distasteful, he was willing to go to any length to see that Palaven’s safety was ensured.

What had caught his eye this time though, was how this one human fought off nearly two dozen slavers before she was captured, which was far more than normal. Slavers tended to sell their Alliance soldiers based on the difficulty it was to secure the ‘merchandise’, and created the minimum starting bids accordingly. While this human was the most expensive, there was no guarantee that she had any information, but information from the Shadow Broker said otherwise.

Prior to Garrus’ investigation, he already thought the human to be unusual. She wasn’t listed with an identification number which was usually the standard bit of information both sides gave when captured. She had been captured outside of the fringes of Alliance space. She also had more tech in her than most soldiers, and there was evidence of significant modification to her. After his own investigation with the Shadow Broker’s information though, he felt more baffled.

First, her name was Jane _Shepard_. The Hiearchy believed the Alliance’s infamous human assassin known as Shepard to be male, but this Shepard was female. Suspiciously enough, she sent messages to someone after a notable official or soldier had been killed, but what stuck out the most was the fact that this Shepard wasn’t actually Alliance but had rumoured ties to Cerberus. To most, if they even knew of the elusive name at all, Cerberus was just a whisper in the shadows that was rumoured to have ties to an Alliance black-ops program, but there was no concrete information as to what Cerberus actually was, or if Cerberus was an organization or even a person.

Garrus had a slight feeling of anticipation as he left his ship and hit the ‘bid’ button on his Omni-tool for Slave #5923132826, only known to him as Jane Shepard. He was fairly sure that no one would be able to outbid him, but any member of the Hierarchy or the military would know not to. As a respected turian with an almost completely classified background due to him being a secret member of Blackwatch, there was also no one foolish enough to cross him since it was no secret that members of the Vakarian family had ties to nearly every branch of service, and there was a possibility of it leading to a very unfortunate but very tragic death.

While he didn’t know what to expect of the human, he was eager to acquiring her in order to learn more about Cerberus and of the human herself since there was the high probability of her being Operative Shepard. It would be a big break for the military since Shepard had killed many of his own, and if she truly knew what Cerberus was, that would mean she had information on something that the biggest intelligence broker in the galaxy could only tell him that they were dangerous beyond measure, and that he was in a position to take it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I give up naming chapters for this fic for everything save the prologue!
> 
> Will be posting all the chapter on the Kmeme + 1 new one right now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man, I can't believe how long these chapters are sometimes and how fast I originally wrote them.... it's inconceivable!

She tries to sleep for most of the week, not out of necessity, but to stay sane. Cerberus may have given her information of what to expect at a human auction, but information and what happened in reality were two very different things. While Jane herself knew that she was emotionally stunted in some aspects, she wasn’t immune. She had no desire to hear or see batarians drag away the Alliance soldiers one by one as they’re sold off to worse fates. As the days go by there are less and humans dragged off and Jane isn’t entirely sure what to make of it. Part of her is slightly is worried that she’ll end up not being purchased and that she’s wasted the past few weeks for nothing if she doesn’t get close to anyone in the turian military or Hierarchy, and that she’ll end up shipped off to a batarian prison. It’s a small comfort to feel that Cerberus probably wouldn’t abandon their investment if things went badly, but the organization knew it was well-within her capabilities to break out of a batarian prison or three, so it was more likely that she wouldn’t receive anything until she returned back to her ‘home.’ It was just more likely that Cerberus would lose the veil of secrecy she had as an asset, but that doesn’t really bother her.

If anything they’d hopefully believe her to be dead and she would have the first opportunity at freedom and that would mean she could possibly reach out to contact the Alliance to find her brother, though realistically, it would not be in her best interest to do so. Jane knew that Cerberus had agents everywhere so even attempting to contact her brother would lead to pursuers and efforts to force her into the open. If it came down to her brother’s safety, she would not hesitate to give herself up and return even though he probably wouldn’t want her to risk herself for him.

Alternatively, if she does get bought, Jane knows that it’ll be even more of a hassle. She already knows that only members of the Hierarchy and military personnel will have access to the auction, so she doesn’t need to worry if she gets purchased by a civilian as much, but there are a hundred other things that she needs to worry about. She has to somehow figure out if her buyer has access to any relevant information regarding her mission and if not how to access those who do... How she needs to kill her buyer at the same time as escaping without drawing too much attention to herself or her identity as Operative Shepard… How she needs to block access the relatively new chip installed in her head that will be likely be keyed into her new owner’s omni-tool… How to gain access to a spaceship if she succeeds and how to contact Cerberus when and if she finally obtains the necessary data…

After the how questions, then there were the alternative if-then-what scenarios that she kept on thinking about even though she knew it was completely futile at this point. Still, that doesn’t stop her from thinking about what would happen if she got sent to a turian prison. Or if she’s used as a torture subject. Or if she breaks under interrogation though that was unlikely since she had been trained to endure torture and other known interrogation techniques, turian or otherwise. Or what would happen if someone finds out who she is. Or how on earth she’d escape from a turian prison. Although Jane hated her entire situation, at times, she hated the waiting more. Waiting for an inevitable fate that she couldn’t escape from always made her delirious.

On the final day of the auction though, she finds out she has a buyer when she’s given a morsel of water and greeted by a small contingent of guards before being hauled out of her cell. A hood is thrown over her head as she feels alien arms securing her arms behind her back, then again when cold steel is tightened around her neck. There’s a sharp pull from something in front of her leading her to follow attached to her collar, and Jane is almost certain that the guards are there for if she tries anything, and that she was responsible for shooting half of them before she was captured.

She’s not sure how far and long she’s walked when she’s pulled to a stop and forced to her knees from hands behind her as she hears some people talking right next to her. One of she assumes, is the buyer since he seems exceedingly polite, and the other being her new owner.

“Thank you very much for your purchase sir Vakarian. While we did not assume someone of your status would ever take an interest in a human, we assure you we are dedicated to supplying the Hierarchy means to information that will hinder the Alliance in any way possible.”

Jane frowns slightly beneath the hood as she recalls the name Vakarian. It only takes her a moment as she had been forced to memorize a long list of the names and faces of turians that Cerberus wanted either dead or captured, and their backgrounds, although she could remember a few more better than others. General Vakarian. Head of clan Vakarian, based on Palaven. Background in what the turians call C-Sec. Similar to a defence organization. Rejoined turian military when war broke out. Family unknown. Citizenship tier unknown but believed to be quite high as he has heavy ties in the Hiearchy though not necessarily part of it.

“And thank you for your discretion. I assume the credit transfer went through smoothly?” The voice responding is fairly calm and sounds unusually younger than what she expected, and doesn’t match the audio she’s heard from the extranet, which causes her to frown. She’s almost certain that its owner must be fairly rich given the unusual politeness of the more-than-likely-to-be-a-batarian slaver, but that didn’t give her much. While Cerberus did have extensive databases on known military figures, they were somewhat lacking in the classified designations. That either meant that she’d know who the person in question was if she heard a name, and that he was possibly even more dangerous, or she’d be even blinder with the lack of information to accomplish her mission.

“Yes, and we thank you again for your business. Shall I arrange transport to your ship or do you have other arrangements in place?”

“Send her to my ship. Please have her there within the hour as I have business that I must attend to as soon as I conclude my tasks here on Omega.”

“Of course sir! We shall have the human there at once, as soon as the paperwork for your purchase is complete and registered to Council space. But first we need to test that the installation was successful as we have a reputation to maintain, and will immediately have it fixed as we would not allow one such as yourself make a purchase of faulty merchandise.”

“By all means, captain.” Jane lets out a startled and heavily muffled yelp as she collapses forward onto the floor. It’s a familiar pain in her head from that new chip in her head, and one she unfortunately expected given that she killed several of their slavers, and because this was ‘standard procedure’ to have humans unconscious during transportation. “That will be enough of a demonstration, thank you. Now if our business it to be concluded? I’m unfortunately being pressed for an urgent matter.”

“Ah, I understand. The human’s chip is now be keyed to your…” Jane felt her eyes closing as the slaver starts whatever he was saying before she vaguely feels herself being dragged away.

* * *

Garrus lets out a slightly annoyed and frustrated sigh as he returns to his ship. Omega was a pisshole as usual but it was one where he could get nearly anything he needed from black market items to humans with knowledge that the Hierarchy needed. He doubted the batarians knew of Jane Shepard’s value, and he had received the exceedingly better end of the deal despite the amount of credits he paid for her. Cerberus was a mystery to unravel, and the credits spent was simply a small price to pay if this paid off.

The week on Omega had been fairly productive. He had managed to pick up some possible Alliance intel from various mercenaries and raiders, picked up materials and tech, eezo, food, weapon mods, but what really frustrated him was the lack of information on Cerberus. The general consensus was that whatever the supposed entity was it didn’t exist and was simply a myth, and the only thing he managed to get of significance in return for a few hefty favours was from Aria. According to her, despite the word on the street that Cerberus didn’t exist, it definitely had most players on the black market running scared…

Still, while he was intent on cracking this case he entrusted himself with, Garrus continually felt his frustration increasing as lead after lead came up with only dead ends, leaving him only with one human as a possible source of information that he was willing to do anything to get. Ironically he didn’t want Jane Shepard to think him a complete monster when he started interrogating her, though he admittedly was not adept with torturing humans. He was at least willing to take the some steps to not cause possible future repercussions if the Hierarchy and the Systems Alliance ever came to agreement in ending their so-called First Contact War, and was why he spent the majority of the last hour making purchases for the human female ranging from clothes, food and other things that humans apparently did according to the extranet, though they mainly seem like they’re for an asari. He is however, late by his own standards as his business with Aria took longer than he would have liked, but he knew better than to anger her.

He’s not entirely sure what to expect from an isolated human who is more than likely to be the infamous assassin responsible for the deaths of a number of his people, so he ultimately decides to set a course for Illium, where he has a safe-house. Being out in space and not connected to any feasible escape routes would certainly limit this Shepard’s option of escape but he didn’t want to take any chances given Operative Shepard’s reputation so he had went as far as disabling the emergency escape pods and making it so that they would only function given his authorization.

The batarians had placed her in one of his ship’s two holdings cells as he requested and he’s not entirely sure what to make of her when he examines her from in front of the cell’s kinetic barrier and with the cell’s closed circuit camera. He can tell that she knows she’s being watched as her head perks slightly up and follows him as he moves, but she doesn’t make any other movements. Garrus isn’t entirely sure if it’s within her capability to break free right despite practically being gift wrapped in chains to the wall.

He takes his time to look at her, and while it doesn’t surprise him that she looks to be in good shape, he’s slightly taken back by the sheer number of scars adorning her body. They’re quite visible and while some of them seemed relatively recent, some of them were very faded. His visor scans reveals that she has small scars on her face, a couple on her neck, nearly a dozen between her arms and a dozen more on her legs, and she has one very deep of what looked like a slash, across her back. While having the actual human in front of him itself was surprising given that there were no images or video of Operative Shepard, it’s unusual to see how a suspected assassin had fairly fresh scars given the fact that operatives of the turian military, asari commandos, STG operatives and even a Spectre on one alleged occasion, failed to wound her.

After taking a holo of the alleged assassin, Garrus turns off the cell’s barrier and cautiously approaches Jane Shepard. She’s shorter than him so he’ll at least have a height advantage if it broke out into a confrontation if she refused to be cooperative when questioning her about Cerberus. His hands eventually make their way to the back of her head to undo the bindings of the hood over her head, and soon that’s gone too.

He’s honestly taken when by surprise when he finally takes off the hood to reveal the face of the woman he’s supposed to be interrogating about a very real human threat. She has dots across her face, red of what humans called ‘hair,’ which to his own amazement, finds looking quite beautiful, though her eyes are closed. Her eyelashes flutter for a moment before her eyes opening revealing emerald green eyes. When he finally makes eye contact with Jane Shepard, Garrus suddenly finds himself with no idea of how he’s going to accomplish what he has set up to do.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are tiny changes between this version and the kmeme version of this chapter. there's one extra sentence and I fixed some of the errors. Kinda wish ao3 had a chapter 0 numbering available...

Jane feels herself tense up as she hears the footsteps down the corridor. The noise they make is all she concentrates all as it allows her to ignore her instincts that were screaming for escape. While she didn’t mind being locked up (she admittedly didn’t mind that sort of thing since she had been conditioned into partially liking it), she hated being left in the dark. It was just something that caused her no end of unease because it made her feel like she was back to being that lost little girl in the dark, where she could only hope to catch glimpses of light on occasion, but always and forever out of her reach as Cerberus was always watching and following her at every step. It didn’t help either as she knew that she could have freed herself in the amount of time she had been given...

She’s a little anxious as she feels hands around her the back of her head since she’s not really used to being touched, or even seeing a turian up close. Nearly all her encounters with the species ended with them either dying at the other end of her scope or running and shooting after her as she made her escape. Still, she knows it’s pointless to try anything as she shuts her eyes, resigning herself to whatever cards she’s been dealt this round.

It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust and she needs to blink several times to get used to the lighting but once she can see, she finds herself captivated by her captor. The blue markings she recognizes from General Vakarian’s images, mark him as one of the apparently more respected clans in the Hiearchy, and he has a piercing, cool, blue gaze that gives her the distinct feeling that he’s seen through her completely. What really stands out in her initial evaluation of the turian is that he’s wearing an unusual visor. It looks like a customized version of the Kuwashii visor that was developed by Ariake Technologies, and recognizes it since she owns one herself, but Ariake was an Earth based company contributing to the Alliance’s war effort…

They stare at one another for what feels like an eternity and she can practically feel her pulse quickening. Eventually she feels that his eyes have lingered for too long when she finds herself needing to glance away. This type of attention is new and unsettling, but makes her want to abandon her mission though she knew better than to defy her orders from Cerberus. Still… she does find her in the oddly unusual situation of not wanting to finisher her mission any time soon, or even killing this turian. It’s a feeling she’s unfamiliar with, though she finds herself surprised at how she doesn’t seem to mind it.

“Er… Sorry about that.” Her head turns back to see the turian looking with an almost confused expression as he puts an earpiece on her. She’s fairly sure it’s a translator for her since he sounds like he was speaking perfect English, but there was really no need. While Jane could hardly speak a few words of turian, she could read and understand the majority of their spoken dialect though that advantage was forced into her only so that she could gather information without prying eyes in her role as assassin and spy. It was unfortunately not one of the Alliance’s better kept secrets that they didn’t give all officers translators since it have access to enough lingual information to construct them. The Hierarchy however, had allies in what they knew was referred to as the Council, who managed to create translators for the turians for humanity’s diverse languages, and they in turn, equipped their soldiers with them. Although the Alliance could reverse-engineer translators taken from turian platoons, it was simply too time and resource consuming of a task to accomplish while at war, and those recovered usually ended up being given to ranking Alliance personnel involved on as the need was greater.

“Uh… thank you… sir? Err… Master?” While the translator is unexpected and she figures is probably linked up to his Omni-tool, she doesn’t forget at the least how to act… as one of her place. What was usually expected was little different from what she was used to since she was practically indentured to Cerberus. In her experience, that meant that people were always above her and commanding her how to act, behave, live and kill, and why she was very prone to disobedience whenever possible.

“Please. Don’t call me that. It’s just Garrus. Garrus Vakarian.” She dutifully nods, careful not to draw any attention with an accidental change in her expression as she studies his face again and concentrates hard as she tries to recall any data she has on the individual in question. _Garrus Vakarian. Rumoured member of secret turian military black-ops known as Blackwatch, organization dedicated to eliminating threats to Palaven’s safety. Cerberus priority alpha for capture, mission level two_. It’s a small comfort knowing that she at least didn’t need to compromise her own mission or cover for Cerberus since her mission took precedence as it was priority one, and that it meant that she actually wouldn’t need to go figure out how to get back to a Cerberus base, and take out a turian who was undoubtedly going to be more dangerous to her in more ways than one.

“If you say so… sir.” There’s silence again between them again as they go back to staring at each other. She still didn’t know what his angle was. His body language gave her the impression that he was either conflicted or nervous…. And his eyes were lingering on her? The idea of it causes her to feel more of that indescribable feeling she had earlier, and though it causes her to falter, she’d never let it show.

“And you are…?”

“Whatever you want to call me by.”

“I’d prefer to call you by _your_ name.” There’s an unmistakable gentleness in the turian’s voice, but she’s not entirely sure if he’s just being polite.

“….Jane.”

“Just Jane?” For a moment she isn’t sure what he means by that. Did he mean surname? Or a military position since she was ‘found’ amongst Alliance soldiers? Either way it didn’t matter. The majority of captured Alliance soldiers didn’t crack, and neither would she. Jane doesn’t need to bring down the wrath of Cerberus upon her.

“…Jane is the only thing I’m not ashamed to be called by.” Her answer gets her a quizzical look from the turian, though that’s not really unexpected. She hated being Shepard. She hated the fact that her name was known because of her activities that led to her infamy, and by the same extent, Cerberus.

“What do you mean by-?“ His question however, is interrupted by an odd gurgling sound that causes her to bite her lip, partially out of the hilarity of it, and of her own embarrassment. “What was that noise?”

“Uh… sorry. That was me. Or my stomach anyway. I haven’t eaten in days....” Jane’s certain her face is red and hopes that turians at least have a similar reaction to not having any food, but thankfully it doesn’t look like Garrus needs an explanation. “Sorry.”

“No I’m sorry… I know how slavers don’t exactly prioritize the health of their captives.” Seeing the turian move closer to her makes her slightly uneasy since she can’t exactly defend herself, but to her surprise, he starts undoing the bindings holding her.

“You aren’t worried that I’m going to try an escape?”

“We’re days away from a mass relay and there’s nothing around us but space. How would you plan on getting away?” There’s almost a challenging glint in the turian’s eyes though Jane does better than to comment.

* * *

“…Thanks.” The human female looks curiously as to what he expects from her when she’s finally free as she rubs her wrists to improve her circulation. For a moment, he finds himself wanting to help her, but from her behaviour, it doesn’t seem like that she’s comfortable with people being close. Or maybe it was just turians. The idea makes Garrus feel slightly dejected, but something in his head tells him that that isn’t it, and that he should get her some food.

Jane follows behind him as he waves for her to follow. She’s slow to follow with her slightly uneven steps, and Garrus finds himself feeling even more of an idiot. She probably hasn’t moved beyond a few centimetres within the last few weeks, and it’s no wonder why she’s unsteady and he was blindly oblivious to that fact until now.

When he brings her to his kitchen, Garrus is a little too insistent on getting Jane to sit down at the dining table, and while she grudgingly accept his kindness, it looks more as if she doesn’t want to show weakness. He feels himself panicking again when their hands accidently touch. Her face is red, and he doesn’t know if that’s a usual human reaction, but the glass of water he gives her makes it go away. His encounters with the humans were only limited to soldiers, he’s never seen one in a rather… homely environment.

His brow-plates furrow slightly as he eyes his stock of levo food in his fridge. It’s more than enough for a few weeks, but that presented problems in itself. First problem: he doesn’t know how to cook human food. Second problem: he doesn’t know if what he has is even human food. He had purchased a large quantity of supposedly human foods, but they all looked alien to him. Third problem: if what he bought wasn’t exactly human food, would she eat what the asari do? He did purchase asari food just in case but he really had no idea if humans ate that sort of thing. Fourth problem: would she have complications if she accidently consumed dextro amino acids? Would she go into anaphylactic shock? Did he even have enough medical supplies to deal with that if that happened?

“Uhm… sir? I can cook… If that’s okay with you.” There an odd look on her face that he’s not sure if it means embarrassment, shyness or even pity, as she tilts her head slightly to the side as she stands next to him.

It’s only when he sits down does he realize that he didn’t even hear her move close to him, and how it looked as if she was analyzing everything in her environment, including him as he makes a note that he cannot give her access to any major area on his ship. There is no doubt that she’s capable as a soldier though, and that worries him. Simply having her within his vision caused him to focus on her and that could be as dangerous as it was distracting. Surely something going on in the galaxy would be able to hold his attention away from a human…


	4. Chapter 4

She has an almost… childish feeling as she stares at the ceiling of her ‘cell.’ This guest room was more than she would have expected as a human prisoner, and was certainly surprising that she was directed to this room rather than her cell. Jane still isn’t one to let down her guard even if she’s alone. There was probably surveillance in the room, hidden from sight, but she honestly finds herself wondering about Garrus’ behaviour. While she did believe he was certainly capable, she isn’t exactly sure why he hasn’t interrogated her. Perhaps he just wasn’t accustomed to talking with humans… But that didn’t really explain why something kept causing him to fumble with his words maybe it was why he kept fumbling with his words… but that may have been why he turned on the extranet news.

She’s grateful that Garrus turns extranet news on since she can’t stand the silence there is between them, but there’s hardly anything that catches her attention or means anything to her. She doesn’t know what Synthetic Insights is, who Shaiira the Consort was, what a thresher maw was…the list when on and on. What really catches her attention though is how an encounter with Alliance soldiers ended up with General Korilius being infected with a poison, and that he was moved to a hospital on the Citadel for treatment as whatever the turian military was doing didn’t work. The fact that it was on the news meant that his situation was probably dire, and fact that the turian in the room’s expression darkened meant he possibly knew of this general…. Jane knew the Alliance would never use something as craven as poison given Earth’s history. That could only mean it was Cerberus…

Jane studied the schematics and chemical structure of a poison and its antidote that was tailored to turian physiology nearly a year ago since it could have possibly been used by her as a weapon for this mission given her skillset. After testing it though, she had no interest in using it since it didn’t kill instantaneously, which in her opinion was distasteful. She didn’t like prolonging one’s pain if she could help it. Sometimes it took days to snipe her mark. Cerberus thankfully didn’t care about however many people (or if any) were killed as collateral, as long as the target was eliminated, so it was one thing she was permitted to have her own preferences for.

It was hardly a topic to think of when preparing food... especially while throwing something together for herself… and Garrus. She’s not exactly sure why he’s doing anything for him though. He was a turian! A member of the species that declared war with humanity… not to mention inflicted countless despicable acts onto her own people, though she acknowledged that humans had done the same. Hell, he probably still planned on doing something of the like for her supposed Alliance information…

While he probably didn’t expect anything from her, it did get them talking for a bit. Jane didn’t learn anything really about the turian in question, it hadn’t been a total loss. While she did reveal that she did have a dextro friend that she prepared food for on occasion whom she did not wish to reveal details about, Garrus almost seemed… jealous? Males of her species often behaved like that when… No. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking of such things. Their species were at war… one that she was cut off from and one that her brother was fighting in…

Jane lets out a sigh as she pushes the thought away. She has her own mission to complete. Garrus said they were going to Illium since he had business to conduct and that presented an opportunity in itself. Unlike most missions, she actually didn’t have a lot of intel to go on. Cerberus ordered her to steal top secret data concerning some sort of artifact with whereabouts unknown. All she knew was that it landed on Shanxi where a Cerberus agent saw it, and now they wanted it for study. Given the secrecy and lack of information it was surmised that either the data or the artifact in question itself was located on Palaven or within the Apien Crest Nebula, which unfortunately wasn’t exactly a narrowed-down location in an area of the galaxy that she couldn’t freely travel through.

The likelihood of her actually needing to go to Palaven was remarkably low though. Jane had the technological expertise and know-how on how to hack and navigate through military systems and databases thanks to a friend of hers so she didn’t need to worry that much. The fact that she was embedded in on a ship with the owner attached to Blackwatch certainly made it easier, but she didn’t want Garrus to suffer any backlash for her actions if anyone somehow managed to trace it back to her…

* * *

Damn Jane Shepard. She was confusing him simply by not doing anything. Her behaviour wasn’t like any soldier, much less assassin that he ever encountered. She spent her time between her preparing meals for him, exercising in his gym, and watching the Illium skyline. She never even commented about being confined to his apartment, and Garrus swears that she’s hacking into his networks, but all his programs and firewalls said otherwise. They had been on Illium for barely a week and still he managed to make himself seem like a fool whenever he talked to her. She at least was having a better time, often asking about the state of the war. He could tell that she had someone whom she was genuinely concerned for though he was fairly sure that he wasn’t a lover. Or at least that’s what his head said.

Garrus lets out an annoyed sigh as he keys in the code for the elevator that would take him to his apartment. He spent most of his time like he did any other day in the past week wasting time visiting medical centers and specialists on Illium, in addition to removing despots wanted by the police. Despite whatever title they boasted, no one was able to synthesize a cure for the poison inflected onto General Korilius who was running out of time. While he didn’t know Korilius personally, his father did, and Garrus had the utmost respect for the Sixth Fleet and was willing to access all his connections to attempt to synthesize a cure as the medical minds of the Citadel were unable to.

Half the time he wanted to ask Jane if she had knowledge of poisons, but decided against it as it didn’t fit into Operative Shepard’s MO despite the issue constantly weighing on his mind since if Korilius died, there was a higher probability that tensions would escalate… He couldn’t even ask the woman about the rumoured entity that she had ties to. Whenever he tried, one look in her green eyes told her that she’s endured far more than any sentient being in the galaxy should ever have to endure… and he just couldn’t bring himself to add to any of it.

As always, he checked Jane’s location on the elevator ride up and security to see that nothing had been taken offline. The security anklet she wore placed her in the gym as usual, and if he was lucky, he might have the opportunity to watch her. It was the only thing that he found himself looking forward to at the end of the day. Seeing her so… unrestrained. Like she was calm, at peace, and like there was no one she had to watch out for. It was also the only time when she might ask him about his day, or reveal some minor detail about herself like any normal person or someone he’d like to know if their species weren’t at war…

He’s quiet when he enters and silent when he spies on her. Jane was exhaling deeply, then relaxing her breath as she went through some motions as if they were poses in a dance. The way she moved was distracting and entrancing… hopefully with her not noticing him. It was a small comfort to imagine that she knew he was watching even though she couldn’t have. Seeing her always made everything better.

He can tell she’s done when her hands slowly raise themselves above her head then slowly brings them down as if to cleanse herself. It’s only then does he permit himself to make himself known.

“Hey Garrus.” Jane sounds more frustrated than usual as she calls out to him, but the fact that she seems slightly eager to see him is enough to bring a smile to his face. “Bad day?”

“You could say that…” She smiles and nods as she looks at him with her emerald eyes as he walks over to the mats that she’s standing. He never told her anything but she was fairly good at reading his expressions, and thankfully wasn’t the type to pry. She was however one to make it a point to help in the ways she could whenever it wasn’t related to his military activities.

“My mom used to say that exercise’s a good stress reliever, and I’m guessing you could probably do with some of that right about now.” There’s a daring but childish gleam in her eyes as she beckons with her open hand for him while putting herself in a fighting stance. “Care to dance? Loser has to answer one question from the winnerrrr.”

“No matter how… private and personal?”

“Mhmm.”

“You’re on.” There’s a smile on his face as he readies himself. Part of him has to… no needs to know if she has someone else out there in the galaxy with a place in her mind who was waiting for her. He just has to.

As soon as he readies himself, Garrus attempts to strike first, Jane dodges, just barely. There’s a look of slight surprise on her face though it quickly disappears and is replaced by undeniable concentration as she faces his continuous assault.

There was nothing wasted in her movements as she evades his reach. She’s like flowing water. Constantly moving, ever-changing, adaptable, and unyielding. Just like what humanity has shown that impressed the military and the Citadel Council. An end to the war didn’t seem like it was in sight soon, but one could hope.

He’s not entirely sure what to expect when she finally attacks. She delivers fairly light punches which unfortunately don’t have enough strength behind them as he dodges and blocks most of them. It’s not enough to give enough insight in her supposed identity as Operative Shepard since Shepard was rumoured to have strength that was almost turian, but there was the likelihood that she’s simply holding back…

Still, the speed she has doesn’t give him much time to react, even when she telegraphs swinging her elbow with her right, which causes him to immediately step out of the way as she uses her momentum to spin around to unleash a kick with her right leg. It’s aimed towards his head and Garrus barely avoids her as he quickly jerks his head to right to barely avoid a foot in the face, and he can practically feel the air skimming by. He somehow manages to see her duck down beside him when her foot lands and take his back. She’s certainly flexible and knows how to move, but he isn’t one to give up easily.

He’s quick to respond and regains his positioning in a second, but Garrus still curses himself as he’s allowed someone to take his back. He’s prepared to block anything from Jane but to his own surprise, she’s not there.

He’s slightly off-balance when he turns back around, but the declaration of victory on Jane’s face tells him that he’s too late. She’s hooked her arm under his knee from a kneeling position, and the fact that he’s not planted on the ground makes it all the more easier for her to swing her arm upwards as she launches herself back up, causing him to land disoriented on his back. No sooner then he’s landed, she’s throws herself back down to pin him against the floor. Her free hand mimics a blade as she lightly taps the side of his neck her open palm with a slight smile. “If I had a weapon in my hand, I guess you’d be dead… Still… not bad.”

“I thought I had you.” After getting up back on her feet, Jane offers him her hand which he reluctantly takes. They’ve never been this close for this long and her vicinity was making him uncomfortable in certain ways. The fact that she allowed herself to appear obvious as an advantage is something that Garrus notes that he will have to remember in the future.  

“Well… you were close… but you seem a bit distracted you know?” Part of him is surprised at how easily she read that from their scuffle, but another part of him is heartened by how she noticed.

“I guess so. Anyway, a deal’s a deal. What did you want to ask?”

“I… Why exactly did you purchase a human? Were you looking to get something from me?”

The look on her face says she’s expecting a certain answer, and that she’s willing to give an explanation for it, but for some reason he finds himself unable to ask about what exactly was bothering him about her, and finds himself telling the worst lie that’s ever come out of his mouth.

“I have a friend… he suggested getting one for uh… blowing off… steam?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about hacking so I took liberties with it.

One of her hand is half covering her face as she’s laughing and making tons of ‘oh my gods’ amidst Garrus’ panicking of: ” _You’re eyes are doing that crying thing that the asari do! Are you having a seizure? Or a heart attack?_ And “ _are you dying?!”_

It takes her a while to finally catch her breath as she wipes away her tears. She hadn’t laughed so hard in years… and that was probably the most terrible answer she’s ever heard in her life. She half-expected Garrus to say something more practical, or perhaps he discovered her “cover” as an Alliance officer. Anything but what he said.

“You…okay…?” A steady hand somehow finds its way to her shoulder causes a small smile to start forming on her face. This week on Illium had been annoyingly difficult for her. It made her feel… like a traitor. Not to Cerberus, but to herself. She was constantly repaying his kindness by hacking into his systems and digging into his files… and of those he knew, even as she knew there was no way the intrusion was detected, there was nothing could change what she had done.

Using Garrus’ network, she gained access to several other databases. Some of them belonged to the turian military, the Hiearchy, the Council, and some belonging to Spectres that he knew. While there was a lot of classified information present, the only mention she could find of the ‘Monolith’ that she needed was logged in a file under the name of ‘Hislop’, belonging to Spectre who knew a Spectre that Garrus knew. The main reason she doesn’t taking further action at the moment is because it would be safer to use a Cerberus system to extract the data, and because if she tried on a military system, it could effectively endanger her mission.

The whole idea of hacking into the person she was living with’s systems was a fairly hazardous idea since there was always the possibility of being traced back, but Jane was fairly adept at manipulating and utilizing networked systems. As a precaution, she didn’t breach that many protect files and purposely left an almost non-existent but hidden path of electronic bread crumbs that would bounce all over the galaxy, eventually to ending in the Terminus Systems on Omega where it would lead to an individual whom she had no qualms using as a scapegoat. Still, there should be no way that anyone could be able to trace anything back to her. Her hacking techniques were all learned from a trusted friend. He could hack any system in his sleep, and be was one of the few friends that she had outside of her life at Cerberus (she didn't keep any relationships within the organization save one person who wasn’t exactly a member of Cerberus like her), and occasional partner in crime, though it was more his partner's partner in crime given their capabilities.

“Yeah… I’m fine. I just haven’t laughed so hard in a long time….” Her breath catches as forcers herself to look away. They’re so close to each other and yet so far. He probably had some respectable partner back home or someone waiting for him… or something. “….I need to shower. Dinner is on the table.”

As she darts away for the washroom she can practically feel Garrus’ eyes following her, and immediately locks the door behind her. She didn’t need to know that he was causing old emotions to start stir- ones that were still damaged and locked away. The sense of security he unknowingly gave her… needed to stop.

In her head, she really needed to get away from Garrus. He was making her think of things she shouldn’t. Or rather things she did not dare to. Her eleven planned escape routes had gone unused for a week because of her selfish desire to stay. She had already done something that risked endangering her mission… and Jane knew that she needed go.

As if to reinforce the point to herself, Jane stripped and slowly examined her scars. They were her constant reminder of what happened when she dared go against Cerberus, and of the fear that had been imprinted directly to her body. Simply looking at them reminded her of the countless pains she endured to get where she was, and stole away any futile ideas of staying that she had. If she stayed any longer, Jane knows that she’d risk compromising herself and… there was no way she could risk that.

She sighs as she turns on the shower and tries to allow herself to enjoy the feeling of water. It’d probably be best to go under the cover of nightfall. If she delayed it any longer, she’d also risk other pursuers and she’d rather not endanger Garrus. It was an occupational hazard she couldn’t afford as a Cerberus lackey.

It was ludicrous to know that Garrus was open to the notion of being a cross-species liaison with the likes of her… and the very idea made her laugh. Still, she at the very least owed him the courtesy of leaving when he was asleep. Manners and all. Better to have him wondering where she was in the morning as opposed to having a confrontation in the middle of the night…

* * *

“Package for you.”

 “Thanks?”  Garrus can’t help but sound surprised as he takes the yellowish brown parcel from the volus delivery man. There was no return address on it, but what was more intriguing was how his name was on it since none of his connections knew that he’d be on Illium, or would actually risk using a delivery service. There was also the fact that the apartment wasn’t under his name but his family’s, but he didn’t really put that into consideration.

His mandibles twitch for a second as he scans the package for any hazardous materials or traps as he sits down in his study. There's nothing but inside it is a datapad alongside with a small sheet of paper, almost like a business card. It was signed by “K+K” alongside an eloquently drawn image of what resembled a single plant with a red flower that he didn’t recognize and the words ‘Silence is golden’.

While that was already strange, the information on the datapad however astounded him. Schematics for a poison and an antidote… tailored to turians. It was undoubtedly what the military was seeking for Korilius. While another scan with his visor revealed that it had been completely wiped for prints and other DNA indicators that could possibly be used to trace it back to its original sender, part of him knew that Jane was responsible for getting this to him.

He really wants to confront Jane about it, but the lingering looks of pain she had whenever she believed him not be watching stopped him. Whatever the relationship between her and Cerberus was likely painful for her to maintain, though it might be more accurate to say, forced to keep given her introverted demeanour and her constant worry of overstepping her boundaries at times. That, and the pressure in his armour had finally lessened and he wasn't entirely sure if he'd be able to stop himself with someone trying to hook up with an asari stripper. At least from Jane's reaction, she thought it entertaining, or at the very least that's what he hoped.

Like the good turian he ignores the thought and immediately forwards the information to Palaven Command. With the Relay 314 Incident still an unresolved issue, military transmissions were prioritized for the comm relays so the data would find its way to the ones that needed it within minutes. Still, he's surprised at how fast he's contacted on his private line, almost in response. It was the one that was usually never used since he was a member of Blackwatch and they were usually expected to have reduced contact with the other members given war protocols, so the only one who ever contacted him usually through it was his father, and a call from him was something that he could not simply refuse.

 While his relationship with his father was cordial at best, they were often clashing with ideals since he wanted Garrus to join C-Sec and abide by the regulations that ensured galactic stability. He only approved of his current position because the conflict with humanity demanded all resources were used effectively. Reluctantly, he opens the channel.

“Garrus.”

“...Nihlus.” It takes him a moment longer than usual to react since the turian on the vid-screen is not the one he expected to see. While Nihlus was his best friend, the turian hardly ever contacted him via vid-call since he was a Spectre and his position demanded an even higher degree of secrecy than his did. cases, to act a messenger. not for military matters. With that in mind, Garrus knew that Nihlus would never call him unless it was a real emergency or...

"Your father called." His knee-jerk reaction is to let out a sigh, but he reigns it in as he knows well that Nihlus didn't like to play go-between. He just hated how his best friend had to hear that his father wanted to convey to him, especially since half the time he knew what it was going to be about.

"...It's about the Jane right?"

"Jane?" The subtle change in Nihlus' expression tells that him that it's already bad news to be on a first name basis with a human and that it was scandalous enough that a Vakarian purchased a human slave and not have sent her off to a military facility for interrogation. He knew that the well enough that the general consensus was that humans who weren't ended up as sexual or pleasure slaves. While turians owning humans in that aspect was rare, some turians had apparently found that they had various different uses that way... While, it was a stigma that he didn't wish on Jane, there was also the fact that there was no denying that he liked having her close and just being around her. "Well, whatever it's not my business. Your father however is concerned that you're thinking of her as something more than just a human."

"...."

 “You don’t even have surveillance actively monitoring her.”

“That’s because…” Garrus stopped for a moment as he considered an appropriate answer. The main reason why he didn’t bother was because Jane never showed up on any of the surveillance feeds. It was like she could see where they were hidden, yet at the same time managed to manoeuver as if nothing was wrong…. There was that, and the fact that he laced all the food in his apartment with harmless nanites that released a weak signal for 24 hours that could be used to track someone down. "I've already taken measures to keep track of her..."

"It's something else isn't it?" Damn. Did he know? Unfortunately he knew he had to tell him something or he'd assume the 'worst', which would be more disastrous for his family than for himself as an individual.  for. The two had a fine line of duty that they both understood, and it was better to say one thing rather than that she was the alleged assassin responsible for the deaths of a number of their people.

“I think Jane has ties to Cerberus.”

“Are you certain of this? None of our operatives have been able to successfully discern that Cerberus exists….”

“I… think so. The information that I just sent to the Citadel forwarded earlier was from her… I think.” Garrus shakes his head and lets out a sigh. He had no proof, and all he had was a hunch, which was slightly worse than his gut instinct.

“You think?” Nihlus just sighs though there thankfully was a slight look of approval form him.   “I need to give that answer to your father, you understand.”

“I do, Nihlus… it’s just…”

"You're hopeless sometimes Garrus." The smile on his friend's face indicates that he's not going to press the matter as he shakes his head. "If this escalates I won't be able to do anything though."

With that, Nihlus terminated the link, leaving Garrus slightly more paranoid than before since he knew that'd he have to watch himself more in the future…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im posting all the chapters I had over at the Kmeme all at once and one new one! Coming up very shortly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're a reader from the kmeme... sorry for leaving you hanging (again)!
> 
> ANYWAY. new chapter! *laughs nervously* sorry if this isn't up to standard. been a while since I've touched Mass Effect... probably longer than I should have. (I haven't even been to the kmeme lately!) I should really blame Solas for that...

Jane has a fairly refreshed expression as she strided across the roof, counting the minutes and seconds. While she wasn’t a person who particularly liked hotter temperatures on planets like Illium, being cooped up in an apartment for a week, save one very stupid impromptu lack of judgement, made her restless. It had been a simple matter for her to gain access to the roof though hacking into the building security was hardly necessary since her implants made avoiding sensors ridiculously simple. Even with that though, there was nothing else that would alert Garrus of her departure save her physical disappearance. In her experience, most rooftop security only covered anti-breaking in measures and alarms, and she had yet to see anything for stopping people jumping off roofs.

She had spent the last week studying the public transportation shuttles that would dock and take-off at a nearby spaceport every hour. Their routes always took them by one of the sides of the building for a few brief minutes and that was time that she could certainly use. Hitching a short ride on top of a shuttle wasn’t exactly the safest method of leaving, but it was one the fastest one that she could think of given the circumstances to place as much distance between herself and this fantasy.

Illium thankfully was fairly bright, even in the middle of the night so she wouldn't be needing to strain her vision or other implants. While they did provide an edge for her, they made her require more energy and rest, and on occasion gave her splitting headaches. Her thoughts stop when she catches the familiar sight of the shuttle that will be her ride as she dashes to the edge of the roof, crouching in an almost pouncing position. If her timing was wrong, the worst thing that could happen was that she would end up mostly broken and in Illium Police custody so it wasn't entirely bad.

Still, although she didn't exactly a great sense of 'danger', she wasn't fond of breaking anything. As the shuttle begins its descent, Jane leaps off the building and immediately presses the centre of both her palms. There's a small hum that vibrates through her arms that makes her feel a sharp sting as she feels the tech activate. The prototype Phantom-class barrier that was activated from her palm was something still in development, but couldn’t afford not to use as the shuttle is almost directly below her.

There's no hesitation in her movement as she calmly descends with her arms and legs spread out, rapidly approaching the shuttle as it moves, setting the barrier's coordinates right in front of her. She still grits her teeth as she slams against the field before setting it so that it surrounded her to prevent her from falling off. The force field she used was by no means perfect against the force of a human falling from a rooftop (though it was effective against most bullets despite its prototype status), but it got the job done. It takes a moment for her field of vision to adjust and take in the sight of Illium as the shuttle starts landing.

Jane quickly slips off as the shuttle lands and quickly finds her way back into the shadows before taking a glance of her surroundings. A neon on sign causes her brow to furrow slightly as she reads ‘Nos Astra’ in the sky-car lot. While being in Nos Astra was a more ‘ideal’ location for her to be since Cerberus had a safe-house located on the outskirts of the city, it was a double edged sword to know that she had a few associates she could lean on for assistance, and who knew of her as Jane Shepard.

While she was technically attached to Cerberus, nothing had prevented from doing odd jobs for various organizations and powerful individuals in her spare time. Cerberus even encouraged it given that it gave them more associates to lean on, and that led to her partnership with a pair of thieves who were her only friends. Although there was a mutual understanding as to not expose anyone’s activities, she knew better than most that everyone had their price, although that would require them to admit what unsavoury actions they hired her for.

Securing a transport vehicle was easy since she was owed a very large number of favours from a krogan businessman who conveniently owned a fleet of them and had them spread across Illium. Jane had received a passcode to use any of them should she ever require it, and after a few short minutes of selecting the worst looking sky car, she was back in the air. It was the first time in a very long time that she wasn’t thinking about anyone, but she couldn’t shake the lingering feeling of… treachery and betrayal as she began operating the sky car controls.

It was ridiculous to think such a thing as it simply wasn’t possible as it would first imply loyalty. Loyalty that she didn’t owe to anyone, and loyalty she refused to give since she could trust no one…especially not since the last time she trusted someone it had nearly destroyed her...

* * *

Garrus almost flinched at the sight of watching Jane land against the moving shuttle. He had immediately followed her after his Omni-tool’s alarm started beeping despite the security anklet still placing her in her room. While he had honestly been wondering if she had planned on simply doing nothing for so long, part of him instinctively knew that she wasn’t one to sit still, though even he couldn’t have guessed that she would resort to such hazardous actions. Given her behaviour, it was like she didn’t think of her own well-being, and that bothered him greatly.

It put him in a slightly delicate position to reveal to Nihlus his suspicions about Jane, and while his friend could be counted on to keep some matters quiet, he was still a Spectre and would have to tell the Council about Cerberus if they became a larger problem. Thankfully though, Nihlus was more loyal to his duties as a Spectre as opposed to the Hierarchy. He had maintained his neutral stance that was expected of a Council agent in encountering new species, but that stance had earned him some backlash from his mentor and other turian spectres.

It takes him about three minutes to arrange for a shuttle car ride to follow her, and while he almost loses sight of Jane as she takes disappears in the parking lot that she drops of in, he is still able to track her with his nanites. When he finally identifies the vehicle she’s piloting, his brow-plates twitch slightly when he sees it. It belonged to a businessman with questionable activities, but everything but murder was technically illegal on Illium, so he wouldn’t have been surprised if Jane had been employed to do just that.

She eventually stops and parks at an asari stripper hotel. A quick search into Illium records revealed that the building was owned by holdings of various companies that he had never heard of… or rather didn’t exist in the galactic market. It was likely that Cerberus was hiding one of its investments in plain sight. The hotel itself was only on the upper floors though… which likely meant that the lower levels weren’t something that someone wanted to be made known. The building blueprints he obtained with his clearance didn’t even show that anything was there….

Jane looks almost wary as she exited her vehicle as Garrus sets his own vehicle down nearby. His visor could still zoom in on her from where he was, and given that her heart rate was now elevated… he’s fairly sure that her relationship with Cerberus wasn’t one that she wished for… There’s an unmistakable fear as she lets out a deep breath before keying in a pass key to a door that wasn’t supposed to exist and soon, disappears from his sight.

Garrus frowns as he considers the situation. He couldn’t just break in to a building with guns blazing to get Jane out of her situation… could he? Somewhere in his mind, he wanted to ensure that Jane didn’t realize that he knew about her being a… member of Cerberus. It would allow her to maintain her anonymity and give her a sense of… security and semblance of peace, and he admittedly didn’t want her to hurt any more than she already had been… He could tell from observing her for a week that she didn’t want anything to do with the ones who controlled her…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's the chapter... Hope it was okay?
> 
> I really want to bring Kai Leng in soon. I love to hate that character, and he was the main reason that I finally got around to writing for this again. Funny how things work. May have to make shep's part longer for it though next time and Garrus's shorter. He got me motivated enough when I started wondering about some things about him and then started putting to paper Shepard's relationship to Leng and what she means to both Cerberus and to him.... heh. anyway that's all for now~


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... im supposed to still be studying so I only got to writing out shepard's part. ended up being longer than I thought so I posted it as its own chapter. next one will be garrus's pov. also didn't want to fail to not post within two weeks so soon. *sigh*
> 
> also I know nothing really about hacking.

Jane lets out a resigned sigh as she sat in the lobby and began filing her reports. She detested this base in particular since one of the Cerberus operatives she knew occasionally came here and was particularly agonizing to deal with… on a very personal level. Thankfully he wasn’t in sight though… Cerberus had restricted her access to most locations unless she was accompanied by him. Too prone to attempt memorizing faces of personnel to kill later.

Hopefully he’d be out in the field… while she hopes, she unfortunately knows her prayers have never been answered by anyone good. Her brow furrows as she begins typing the most minimal amount of information allowed about her, which is basically _yes_ or _no,_ to a bunch of questions. They’re very basic since she was writing on a standard form. Things like _‘Did you obtain whatever objective?_ ’, ‘ _Did you lose your cover?’_ , ‘ _do you require more time for your mission?_ ’ and ‘ _Anything else to add_?’ She had no obligation to give Cerberus details about what they wanted and never did.

There a small beep from the terminal across from her table attached to the wall that turns on almost immediately after she sends in her report. Out of reflex she frowns since there’s a faceless person on the monitor. “Operative Leng is asking for an… in-depth update on your mission.”

“Of course he is…” Her heart inwardly sinks as she does her best to tune out the instructions she’s given to head to a secure room for a proper debriefing, and she’s to go _now_. All someone really had to do to make her listen was drop the man’s damned name….

Operative Leng was only a year older than her and one of Cerberus’s best assassins, but unlike her, he was trusted by Cerberus so he didn’t have a chip in his freakin’ brain and got the best equipment unlike her. Hell, she tested half the equipment he got. He was a genius compared to her whenever compared with hand-to-hand combat, pretty much every martial art that involved a sword and was far more ruthless. The only thing she could say against him was that she was faster, a better pilot, a better sniper and had significantly more patience.

Why on earth someone of his stature would have chosen to be her handler was a mystery she never understood for the longest time. He liked her broken and obedient, a puppet on his strings, and as a doll in his hands… He could demand everything of her and never be satisfied. Her hand somehow found its way to touching her back as a reminder of how that’s how she needed to be.

She swallows hard as she sits down in her so-called debriefing room. Cell. Prison. The name didn’t matter when she knew she was going to be interrogated. Jane couldn’t help but be filled with a feeling of dread. He technically couldn’t overrule her current mission, but he could choose to modify the parameters of it to impose himself into her mission if he deemed it necessary….

There are two chairs with a table in between them in the room with a one-way mirror on the side. It’s a given that her seat is the one where there are a number of straps attached to the chair to prevent the respondent from escaping and moving, and hooked up to a variety of monitoring devices. While she begins securing herself immediately, Jane counts it as a small mercy that no one else would be watching and that anything that happened between them would be recorded. Operative Leng was high enough in the organization to get nearly anything he wanted, and he did like his privacy, especially when it involved _her._

It was no secret that she disliked him though, and that had only spurned him further in his actions against her. In his own twisted way, he enjoyed knowing there were things that he could not obtain so easily. She didn’t understand or care to for the longest time. Not with him.

When Jane is about finished confining every part of her save one free hand the door clicks open and every instinct of her screams. She can’t turn her head to see him, but she can almost bet that he has a smile on his face…

“….What do you want… Leng?” Her chin tilts upward automatically and her posture straightens when she finally sees the agent in question materialize next to her. He didn’t even need to put his blade at her throat anymore…

“Is that the language a puppet controlled by the organization uses when addressing its master, dog?” There’s a sick laugh from beside her as he caresses the side of her face, instantly making her blood freeze. He knew that any resistance she made at him was token resistance at best. The assassin knew of how intense her fear was of him…

Simply being in the same room as him made her feel cold. Rather than her being cold, it was more like she felt that her life was sucked away from her, right down to her individual cells.

“Right. My apologies…. _Sir.”_ Her tone is monotonous and bland, but she does slip in a tiny hint of anger, though that was mainly directed at herself. Her arms are shaking a bit when he finally pulls away.

“I wouldn’t use such daring words you know… especially one who’s been given clearance to use ‘that.’

“No…” There’s a small smile on his face relishes her expression as she trembles in fear as he sits himself on the table to look down on her. Powerless. It wasn’t a surprise that he’d been given permission to use it since they were paired on missions together, and that he was used fear to keep her in check. He always had her in the palm of his hand. Such was the result of their past interactions… or it would be better to say his actions against her. She could not deny him anything.

“Oh, don’t worry Jane. Even if I’ve been granted access, I won’t use ‘that’. While his tone is… polite, it was sarcastic to even hear such a thing from him. He didn’t need to activate anything of hers to get her to obey his orders. “For now, you and I are going to start with the information you’ve gathered in the past few weeks you’ve been away from Cerberus.” _He probably wanted to say ‘me.’_

Jane doesn’t even bother resisting when she sees him pull out a syringe and straps her free arm to the chair before injecting her with the needle. It was a truth serum of sorts…though it was more appropriate to just say that it was a drug to ensure that she’d be extremely compliant, for at least for the next three days, not that it mattered since she was too scared of going against him. This was unfortunately standard for her with since she could be counted to lie in every single breath she took when talking to any agent of Cerberus other than the one now sitting across the table from her. This drug was made specifically to use against her given her modifications and conditioning to work around her will and retain the usage of her skillset, even if she wasn’t actively aware of it. Normally, she didn’t even bother trying to resist its effects due to what it made her feel eventually.

Unlike the only other person in Cerberus that she knew of with similar circumstances, Jane was usually drugged out of her mind in order to get the truth and rewarded for her subservience as opposed to performing well in a fight. She had been conditioned to lie, fight and kill for her existence so Cerberus saw fit to simply work around her will.

Almost immediately her pupils widen and her jaw drops as she grits at the sensation with a voiceless screen. Her blood felt like it was on fire, her head felt like it was about to split, she wanted to tear her own skin off, and her limbs are almost convulsing. Her only real thought that manages to form when this occurs is how she very much wants to do anything until she’s rewarded with the overwhelming enjoyable sensation that only obedience will bring when she manages to shut her mind down completely in surrender. He gives her about a minute before he starts since the monitors are all beeping erratically like her heart, since he equally enjoys her both in pain and in a pleasing state.

“So let’s start with the basics, Jane. You were embedded into a slaving operation for weeks as was expected, but you were completely off our radar for a while and we’ve then we suddenly found that one of our most potent toxins has been neutralized.”

“I am not responsible for the actions of my associates…” The words flow out of her mouth like water from a broken dam that she’s trying to desperately hold back. It takes all she has not to say anything else, especially since anything she would add would be particularly damaging. While her current state severely impaired her hold over her cognitive processes, she knows that her will is literally going to die soon so she does all that she can to hold on. She loved and hated the warmth that spread across her body…

 _“Heh._ Acceptable.” There’s a small snort that she recognizes whenever he felt pleased with her act of defiance however small, and was letting her get away with it. “And your mission? The last I heard that the Spectre you encountered who had the data got away, and you didn’t get anything.”

“Following my discovery that the Spectre in question had the information I required for my mission, I had used a program that would enable me to identify his Omni-tools’ unique data signature, which allow me to utilize a program written by… by….” Her voice stopped despite her drug-addled state. She would not give up her friends’ names willingly and would bite her tongue to drown in her own blood to prevent it from happening… Even if she had been given permission by the people in question to disclose their names, she didn’t want to let them down. Kasumi and Keiji were her best friends, and the only people in the galaxy she would actually trust with her life. Jane had absolutely no do desire to make things easier for her if it meant compromising their activities and having them caught on Cerberus’s radar. “By…”

“Enough. Continue.” The anger from him is palpable though he knew her well enough to know what lengths she’d go to, to protect such a secret.

“Yes sir.” She replies immediately and eagerly, and she’s rewarded by a warm overwhelming sensation in her mind. It’s like a flood of ecstasy and she does all that she can to hold on. “…Using his program, I was able to data-mine some information by sending it through some of his associates’ own Omni-tool’s data signatures, and was isolate that the artifact in question that was located on Shanxi.”

“And?

“The turian general Desolas Arterius had the artifact from the research vessel that landed on Shanxi moved.”

“Where is it now?”

“On Illium. Under the supposed protection of Spectre Saren Arterius.” There was a look from hatred in his eyes at the mention of the Spectre’s name although she cannot comment anymore. She divided her observations of people into categories for Leng – mainly those he could trust and use, those he could not, and those he really wanted dead. Saren fell into the last category for nearly making him fail one of his missions, and the only reason he hadn’t was she had provided him a distraction at her personal expense, not to mention that she nearly died in doing so. If there was anything that the assassin hated more than failure was the idea _mere_ idea of her escaping him in any form.

“And the turian you’ve been staying with?” She can hear… venom in his words though she’s not sure why. He was always like this whenever she had spent time in the company of another male, human or otherwise. Jealousy wasn’t really a concept she understood that well, nor was it one that she ever comprehended from him anyway. “You haven’t killed him yet.”

“I am unfamiliar with his identity…. And I did not have the opportunity to make it look like…” He didn’t know that she knew the faces of most turian persons of interests, and only expected her to focus on those mentioned in their mission briefings. She watches him double check the monitors as she replies in the same bland tone as she did before. His gaze is sharp and it makes her swallow uneasily. “An unfortunate accident, especially since I haven’t been able break through his level of information. As a result, I suspect he is a… person of interest.”

She hopes for with all her heart that he can’t discern any faults in her acting. If she failed to fool him with her performance, it would end with her on her knees begging forgiveness….

In addition to the physiological, micro-emotional and behaviour tests she needed to fool, she had to maintain a steady heartbeat although Jane hardly ever exercised the skill. If Cerberus knew they’d employ some other tortuous method in ensuring they extracted the truth from her, so she avoided using it. It had cost her mind and more than a few scars when she let her heart beat normally when she lied… Although she didn’t truly owe Garrus anything, the time she had spent with him… was nice. He made her feel like an _actual_ person, and not just the weapon she was. He respected her for who she was, and despite _legally_ being his slave on Illium, she felt more freedom with him in ages, and it was her first real taste of it that she could remember. She could never have dreamed of such things she lacked the creativity to imagine unless she experienced them herself firsthand…

It was odd for her to acknowledge that a turian was making her feel this way. Even her interactions with Kasumi and Keiji, she always felt like she was trapped in the shadows because of Cerberus’s orders, but Garrus… He was making her feel emotions that she honestly thought died or had been repressed by the assassin sitting across from her.

“Heh. Is that so? No matter.” Leng was a bit of a perfectionist so her answer would suffice. “Well for now let’s go, you’re to be mobilized with me in an effort to obtain the artifact. With also luck, we’ll also be able kill the damned bastard guarding it…”

“Yes, sir.” She nods when he starts removing her restraints. Operative Leng wasn’t the type to ever ask questions twice thankfully, so it’s a small comfort when she finally lets herself go.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy N7 Day..!
> 
> Also I'm posting two chapters! probably won't be doing an update til December sorry. im swamped with tests next week and have a bunch of group projects coming up.... also if you happen to read my other DA story, yes I know I haven't updated, i'm trying to do that today... kinda got distracted by a few things including that Saren/FemShep story I wrote. lol. Smut is very distracting.
> 
> this is just a garrus chapter. next one goes back to the regular half and half format. 
> 
> Also I haven't really edited this chapter. finished the next one before this one. and its late.... rather extremely early in the morning (5:!4AM). so ill get to cleaning this up laters...

One message.

He didn’t know from who.

It just said…

 _Saren Arterius_. _In Danger_.

Was the Spectre on Illium? He honestly had no idea. He could make an inquiry to Blackwatch but it was unlikely the organization would reveal the movements of someone so classified, and technically independent of the Hierarchy despite his loyalty to the cause.

He wasn’t exactly sure about why in the Spirits’ name anyone would send him such a message although he was fairly sure he knew who the sender was, but he couldn’t understand the reasoning. Saren Arterius was a ruthless Spectre and a devout human-hater.

His understanding was that Cerberus wanted to serve as humanity’s so-called sword and shield, so it was odd for any human to warn against likely violence against a turian Spectre.

It didn’t matter though as he was more concerned with where Jane was going. She had disappeared for under an hour before remerging from that building with taller male human. They both carried a sword on their back in addition to various other firearms… and they wore the same type of gear. Equipment suited for stealth and reconnaissance. Both of their eyes and parts of their faces were covered, but he could immediately identify Jane.

He had been tailing their skycar for a while as it looked like it was heading towards a set of buildings, also on the outskirts of Illium though in the opposite direction from where they came. Regardless if Spectre Arterius was in any of them though, he wasn’t going to worry about him. Saren would be able to handle anything that came his way and Garrus didn’t want his activities to be picked up on. Not when his best friend was Nihlus and he knew that his friend’s mentor was the turian in question. It would end badly, especially since his own name was under consideration for Spectre candidacy.

The buildings they were apparently heading towards were under office buildings under construction though he didn’t doubt that the information regarding them couldn’t not have been manipulated. It’s what he would do if on a relatively unsecure planet like Illium. Behind all the luster and glamor the planet had to offer, it was just as bad as Omega in some aspects.

Garrus watches as Jane positions the vehicle above the tallest building of the group. The vehicle doors open and her traveling companion jumps out to land on top of the building after giving her some directions which she immediately nods to. Soon after, she starts lowering the vehicle, though he makes it evident that she's being watched.

It should be obvious to her that she was being followed now, but she still maintained her course of action and left the skycar hovering at the altitude at about a third way down the centre building. Perhaps they were planning a pronged assault? The idea makes him frown though there was no way that he’d let that happen though her actions mystify him. It would just be easier to intervene now.

It’s a small consolation that no one will be connect him to the situation about to unfold. Saren Arterius was known for not working with anyone, and was fiercely independent so he didn’t need to worry about extra security. Still, Garrus secures his helmet on right before he sends his skycar crashing into Jane’s.

He controls the descent as much as possible, guiding it into one of the nearby empty buildings before popping open the vehicle doors. He uses a propulsion pack to escape the vehicle right before the shuttles crash into the building. He’d end with a few bruises for the stunt as he crashes slightly from the momentum from the propulsion, but she would certainly up in a significantly disoriented state from the vehicle crash. With luck, it would keep her focus away from any other weapon which he saw loaded into the skycar. Operative Shepard typically used sniper rifles and on rare occasion pistols, and he didn’t want for her to be getting any idea to use them.

“Jane… are you… okay?” His yells out at her with a bit of worry mixed into his words. He wasn’t loud as the alarm system that was currently going off because of the skycar crash he instigated, but he did hear the airbags deploy. He didn’t know if he needed to pull her out of the fire, especially since he had seen no obvious attempt for her to escape the shuttle, though he does have his rifle drawn. “….Can you hear me?”

To his astonishment though… she emerges from the remains of the vehicle, and points a pistol at him, without a hint of confusion on her face. They’re barely two metres apart when his instinct kicks in and shoots the weapon out of her hand. His rifle was loaded for concussive shots only though does hesitate when he positions the rest of her in his crosshairs. She was bleeding a bit from their crash. Blood glistens in her hair in the night sky, only made visible by buildings and lights in the distance. She clicks something on her Omni-tool that shuts down the alarms and kills the lights in the buildings surrounding the area, and it’s in that moment Garrus pulls the trigger. It will hurt, but it would be best to render her unconscious regardless of what she plans on doing.

Half of her mask-like visors shatters and to his surprise, there are no emotions in her now-visible eye. It looks as if the light was completely sucked out of it. Dark and gone. Pain didn’t even register in her expression either…. But what really stood out was a single tear that was falling down her face. Jane had explained it to him once sometime after her laughing fit that it was an… emotional response if someone was extremely happy, amused by something funny or incredibly saddened by something.

There’s a glazed look in her eye as her head recovers from the impact. As there was no sign in her expression that recognizes that she even felt anything, it makes him wonder how truly conscious she was despite how she was obviously awake in some manner.

Her reaction however is quicker than he would have expected as she throws the pistol away as an unfortunately successful distraction before she launches herself back at him. She moves frighteningly fast and draws out her blade and that makes him immediately back off, evidently not bothering with other weapons. In the time he falters, her sword slices his off the barrel of his rifle making it completely unusable.

She wielded her blade with the grace of a dancer and the deadly skill of an assassin, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay out her sword’s reach, especially since she kept on interchanging which hand she was using to hold it. He’s almost certain that she was using a monomolecular blade, but he had no intention of actually finding out despite that possibility becoming increasingly likely.

It was rare for Operative Shepard to engage in melee or simply at close range, and the actual number apparently of kills within less than 2 metres accounted to less than 2% of all her kills, so he had considered that it was because the assassin wasn’t as proficient at close combat.

He had never been so wrong.

Shepard literally cut down everything in her path with her sword, and he finally understands what led to it being said that the assassin had strength that was almost turian. It was said that none of Shepard’s marks ever got away and the best they could do was minimalize collateral damage.

It’s small mercy that the floor they landed on was completely empty and that she hadn’t activated what was referred to as a tactical cloak at their distance since he’s certain that this would end in her favour. There were various reports of Operative Shepard completely vanishing from sight when someone had ‘him’ in their sights and cornered, only for the assassin to reappear later to finish off her whoever her target was at a distance with her sniper rifle. It however didn’t seem combat ready since there was no documentation from any law-enforcement agency of the operative using it in a firefight.

Each slash she makes at him is a calculated to drive him back into a corner, in addition to his vitals. She seemed to fight with every move calculated… and it was obvious to him that she had no interest in even giving him the chance to breath and her eye occasionally fell to his Omni-tool.

It was slightly predictable for her to target his Omni-tool since he could literally knock her out with a flick of a button, and he would prefer to use that as opposed to actively engaging her in a fight given the limited insight he had on her violent past. He would have preferred to not use it at all, but that option was becoming increasingly unlikely given his situation.

As it was, he was having a hard time trying to avoid her sword whilst aiming at to render her unconscious, or at the very least disarm her.

Unfortunately, Garrus recognizes that he’s out of time when she uses her hand to shove him with enough force to make him lose his balance as one of legs immediately sweeps under his. “Kill the power. Eliminate all who stand in your way while I go securing the artifact. You have a mission to complete.”

Her voice is hollow and not hers as she makes it so that both her feet pin his legs against the ground and one of her knees is pressing down over his throat almost immediately after he falls and ends up on the floor. She can execute him now.

Her blade is raised high above them and all she has to do now is bring her arm down to kill him. It would be quick and clean death. While he does regret his inability to stop her, he can’t see any clear way of getting out of situation right now…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda imagine a Cerberus Jane Shepard wearing phantom gear but instead of that helmet, she wears the Delumcore Overlay, which looks like what Kai Leng wears.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well I finished this chapter before the one before this lol.... oh welllzzz
> 
> happy n7 day again~ did you see the video bioware posted? It made my inner fangirl self go crazy....
> 
> back to 'regular' formatting if you will....
> 
>  
> 
> probably wont update til December.. or late November anyway.

Her blade sinks into the centre of his neck, and she uses enough force so that she knows that the edge reaches the floor that he’s pinned to. It’s one of the easiest ways to kill a turian – mainly ensuring that their trachea or whatever the turian equivalent is called is severed, and that the victim drowns in their own blood, though it required a hint of excess force. Struggling was pointless and only made it quicker to reach the inevitable end. It’s not elegant by any means, but it got the job done. Even if whatever alien equivalent of paramedics arrived in the next second, it would be too late for her target.

A smile curls onto her lips as she watches her target gurgle on his blood as she pulls out her sword. It’s been a long time since she’s killed someone in such a manner. Sniping might have been easier, but getting in close felt so much more personal and riveting. It was simply _better._ She relished seeing the look on the victim’s face when their last thought was of how there was no chance for them to survive against Operative Shepard and that they would be dying at her hand. Complete and utter despair.

It was a novel feeling that she could never get enough of. Kai Leng would be pleased. He always liked it when she indulged in her darker side with excessive violence, and it had been a long time since she had last cut loose. “Have you finished eliminating the turian?”

“Of course I have Leng. Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m Shepard, _Operative Shepard._ ” Her voice is smug, and Jane lets out a confident chuckle as she hears his voice in her ear. “I’m the only damn person in Cerberus who can one-up the _illustrious_ Kai Leng.”

“I’d be happy to put you back into your place if you wish to test that theory, Jane.” She laughs at the very idea of it. She had a good enough of an imagination to know how’d he’d prove his prowess to her.

“ _ANWAY,_ despite him being a member of Blackwatch, it was but a simple matter to kill him. Guess they don’t train turians fight well enough... though he seemed a bit distracted.”

“Blackwatch? He was a member of Blackwatch? Interesting.” He sounds more satisfied than usual despite her not revealing who the turian was earlier, though he did like to be surprises from her whatever progress she made. She liked giving him good news. “I should have expected such a thing from you, Jane.”

“Cerberus will greatly benefit from this victory.” She almost obediently nods at his praise as it soothes her soul. Kai Leng always encouraged her to embrace and celebrate what she was – namely a ruthless weapon. The weapon that she knew she was. He didn’t shy away from who he was, and he encouraged her to always do the same. He was the only one who could help her understand who she was.

“Yes, we will…. And perhaps we’ll celebrate later?” She can practically hear him licking his lips as Jane returns her blade back into its sheath. Her eyes roll at his comment.

“Are you asking me out right now Operative Leng?” She laughs as she rolls her eyes at him. “I’ll have you know I’m rolling my eyes at you _right now._ ”

“Aww… Don’t be like that, Jane.” Leng lets out an exasperated huff and she can practically imagine him pouting now. He knew that she knew that he liked her. “I’m bringing a skycar around to your location. Make sure you retrieve whatever data from the Blackwatch personnel before I get there.”

“As you wish, sir.” Her tongue exaggerates the words as she mumbles softly. Dutifully, she heads back over to the expired turian’s corpse with a sigh. She knows it was a short failing of hers to not remember things, and had almost forgotten about the information that the turian might have been carrying. It was always worth double-checking…

Her eyes turn coldly as she returns to examine the corpse. There’s a pool of blood by his throat. Her hands eventually make their way to the helmet, carefully removing it. Cerberus would want to know which individual she had eliminated and would document it accordingly.

_No…._

Her heart sinks as she looks at him in the eyes. The light is gone, but she recognizes who it is. _Garrus._ Her hands are covered in his blood. Jane finds that the strength in her legs disappears when she screams.

* * *

He immediately rushes into the medical bay where he finds Jane curling up. There’s fear and terror in her eyes, and she’s shaking badly.

“Jane!”

“No! That’s not me! That’s not me! You don’t own me! You don’t control me!” Her arms are tied down by medical restraints, but they were buckling against her strength. “I hate them! I’m not a….! I don’t want to be… to be…” Her cognitive processes look they’re turning back on for the first time in three days as she blinks several times. Her pupils look like they were dilating and readjusting to the light of the room. “I… I’m…. what was I…?”

“You were having a nightmare.” His voice is firm as he grips the side of her head so that he’s the only one she can focus on. She blinks almost uncomprehendingly at him for several minutes as her lip trembles. She looks confused. Lost. There are tears coming down her cheeks. “This is _real_. You’re awake. You were having a nightmare.”

Slowly, her breathing calms down as he takes in his words, almost desperately holding on to everything he was saying. He can visibly see the tension leaving her body thankfully, and it’s only then he lets go. He doesn’t ask her what she remembers. He doesn’t want her to remember.

He can still recall the visible sweat dripping from her brow and her mouth almost gaping for air. Her arm had been shaking like it was fighting an unknown force against her will, and her entire body seemed to be struggling for control. All he managed to realize then was that she wasn’t striking him at that very moment.

Jane let out an almost feral shriek when her arm finally moved and it caused her blade to graze the side of his neck as it sank into the floor. She drew blood, but it’s was a relatively minor wound. Her hands were shaking violently still when she reached for her sword, but soon pulled away. There had been more tears in her eyes. She didn’t want to do this.

He hadn’t let the opportunity go to waste and immediately seized the chance to hit the controls for his control chip. The batarians had informed her though that there were multiple devices installed into her. The effect of his is thankfully immediate, and he catches her so that she doesn’t fall. He had slowly carried her in his arms and let out a sigh of relief when she watched her. When her breathing was back to normal and when she was no longer shaking… and she had looked so… relaxed.

It was the only consolation that he could really take then since she was safe again, even if that had required him to turn his own weapon against her for a moment.  

Garrus swallows hard as he pushes the memory away. She was here now, and her at least talking was an improvement as she at least _had_ a state of mind to think with as opposed to the last few days. It was sincerely disturbing to have her answer and obey whatever directive he gave as long as it was said with some authority, with not even a change in expression. She behaved like her spirit vacated from her body. A doll. It was like she possessed no will of her own and was only too eager to please and was completely unhindered by the complexity of the task given to her… and likely any danger that would threaten her own well-being. She was completely obedient.

Whatever drug Jane was under the influence of was nothing he had ever seen. Even documented red sand addicts never got like this. While he couldn’t in the right conscious take advantage of her state to ask about Cerberus, Garrus did find himself asking for small bits of personal information about her that didn’t relate to the organization.

It was almost aggravating how he acknowledged how he wanted to know more about her, despite her being human. He couldn’t help but admire her though… in her spare time when not working directly for Cerberus, or recovering from tests, surgery or the installation of tech, she attacked pirates, stopped slavers and weakened criminal organizations through various means. It was admirable since she apparently didn’t care for building any good-will for humanity, but wanted to redeem herself and her conscious. A lawyer would probably argue that she wasn’t guilty for the crimes she had inflicted given her state constant duress, but she carried her guilt with her every day. He had no idea that she had felt so burdened by her actions.

Aside from that, he learned that she loved reading and once wanted to be an engineer and had studied it somehow on the side. Her dream had once been to design a starship with her older brother who was apparently a prodigy in her opinion… It was damning for him though when he had listened. Jane had effectively been a slave all her life after Cerberus found her, and that she had an elder brother who may not have even known about her existence who was used against her as leverage. She had such pure feelings for her family – the only family she had left, and those feelings were being used against her in the most damaging way possible…  

“Did I… do… anything?” Her voice is scared and laced with guilt as she looks back at him. He couldn’t stand it, knowing what he knew... She was trying to shoulder too much responsibility that hadn’t been hers to bear. The look on her face even wanted to ask if she had killed anyone… “Oh, god I’m going to be sick…”

“Nothing happened. You didn’t do anything.” His tone is firm, unyielding, and unfortunately as authoritative sounding like when Jane hadn’t been in control of herself, but he talks this way to hide the anger in his voice at Cerberus and the helplessness he feels with her situation. It is more to convince him than her though. He couldn’t morally stand by and do nothing for her to alleviate her pain. He will give her the lie so she doesn’t have to think of one. “Someone broke in to my apartment and drugged you. You spent the last 48 hours unconscious. Nothing happened. Nothing at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry again for not updating in a while... im probably going to say that every time I update. I know its stereotypically Canadian to always apologize, but I keep on feeling like I have to every time... *sigggh* lol.
> 
>  
> 
> going to sleep now. will probably edit lter...

**Author's Note:**

> if you're a reader from the kmeme... sorry for leaving you hanging again....I definitely have commitment issues when writing.
> 
> I did debate on changing the title!  
> ...I seem to be indecisive with those. was thinking about 'Mark of the Assassin' lol.


End file.
